Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘FABULOUS’ IN HUNGARY - The role of Frankfurt
FABULOUS SPY GAMES the share of the big West German corporations (such as Siemens, Krupp and Mannesman) in the Hungarian market; their influence remained uninterrupted right until the late 1980s. Several deaths that have gone unexplained to this day can be linked to their circles, so exploring the other activities of the foreign trade lobby may put these deaths in a different light. György Lantos counted as one of Sebestyént trusted people in Frankfurt.308 When he was ordered home in 1962, Lantos committed suicide, the circumstances of which could not be fully resolved even by state security, their detectives used the word suicide in quotation marks on more than one occasion. It was typical of the time that various rumours started to circulate immediately with respect to the reasons for the suicide. One such explanation blamed rising anti-Semitism for Lantos’ suicide. Robert Geist, who was also transferred to Frankfurt under Sebestyén in 1962, received an anonymous letter after Lantos’ death that said: “The situation here is deteriorating day by day for folks like us. Everyone knows that poor Lantos was simply harassed to death. For a Jewish man, no matter how reliable and loyal a communist he may be, the tiniest, most unfounded shred of doubt is a disaster, because they will make a mountain out of a molehill. They are not killing us openly, of course, like the Nazis did. But at this rate, we may just all be slowly starved to death in the end. Any of us still in a leading position is careful not to burden himself with the problems of the rest. It’s every man for himself. But if the new worker and peasant cadres, the young goys replacing us do actually replace us all, then it will not be only us paying the price, the time will come, at the end of the day, when it will be their turn.”309 Among the rumours flying around, Emil Hoffman’s version seems to be the most reasonable, namely that Lantos had been bribed by several western companies, which put enormous pressure on him that caused him to take his own life when ordered back home.310 Hoffmann’s statements also show that he was probably in on other purchases, possibly smuggling that looked illegal. ‘Fabulous’ mentioned 308 ÁBTL 3.1.5. 0-12344/2 p. 181 Information report, 3 February 1958 309 ÁBTL 3.2.1. Bt-751/1 p. 40 Anonymous letter from Rome, with the initials B. K. in lieu of a signature, 16 April 1962 310 ÁBTL 3.1.5. 0-12344/4 p. 28 Executive summary, 31 March 1962 116
